The latest Sustainable Behaviours Ad Tracker from Kantar and Ad Net Zero, now covering more than 21,000 ads across 44 markets, includes a first deep dive into US advertising ahead of Climate Week New York.
As Climate Week NYC puts the spotlight on climate action, Ad Net Zero and Kantar have released the Q3 2026 update of the Sustainable Behaviours Ad Tracker, which supports Every Brief Counts, Ad Net Zero’s voluntary, science-backed toolkit designed to help creative, strategy and brand professionals feature more sustainable behaviours and actions through advertising.
A reality check
Kantar has now classified 21,187 ads tested between November 2024 and August 2026. Just 4.1% feature any sustainable behaviour, continuing a steady decline from 6.1% in the tracker’s first report. Sustainable transport and travel remains the most common (2.1%), ahead of diet (1.2%), products and purchases (0.9%) and home and energy (0.7%). Fewer than one in a hundred ads (0.9%) carry an explicit environmental message.
No penalty, and a clear reward for being bold
The good news is that there is no effectiveness penalty for showing sustainable behaviours. Ads that include them are more distinctive (+6 percentile points), particularly within their category (+14), more emotionally engaging (+5) and more likely to be shared (+7).
The biggest gains come to brands that pair action with a clear message. Ads combining sustainable behaviours with explicit environmental messaging see +19 on distinctiveness, +16 on emotional engagement and +11 on long-term brand equity compared with ads that feature neither.
Spotlight on the US
Across 3,237 US ads, just 3.0% show sustainable behaviours, down from 5.3% in 2025. That places the US 26th of 44 markets, below the global average and around half the rate of the UK (5.6%).
Yet North American audiences respond more positively to these ads than audiences in other regions. US ads featuring sustainable behaviours score +12 on long-term brand equity, +6 on short-term sales likelihood, +16 on distinctiveness and +14 on viral potential – well ahead of the global picture. Samsung, Hellmann’s and Perdue Farms are among the US brands highlighted in the report for doing this well.
Who is leading the way?
Automobiles remain the standout industry, with 26% of ads featuring sustainable transport choices, followed by health and dietary foods (15%) and leisure (10%). New Zealand, a new market this quarter, tops the country ranking at 14%, ahead of Norway (12%) and Sweden (11%).
What next?
Every brief is an opportunity. Download the full report for the complete global, market and category results, and share the Every Brief Counts toolkit with your creative, strategy and brand teams.
